


don’t follow me; you’ll end up in my arms

by pillowthoughtss



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Death, Fluff, Gore, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Semi-graphic violence, Violence, a.c.e apocalypse au, apocalypse au, i added extra background that isn’t true i just needed it for the sake of the story, like seriously this is going to be so sad, lots of death, multichapter fic with plot, potential nsfw ig if they don’t die first, really sad, slowburn, this takes place during promotions for mad squad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-01-27 00:39:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21383224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pillowthoughtss/pseuds/pillowthoughtss
Summary: a.c.e apocalypse au where the world is being taken over by deadly creatures that can hear but can’t see.
Relationships: Kim Byeongkwan/Kim Sehyoon | Wow, Lee Donghun/Park Junhee | Jun
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24





	1. introduction (please read)

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic on ao3 but i write a lot more on twitter @kinkykwannie follow me there if you wanna <3

hi! thanks for reading :) before we get started, let me give you a little info on how this will work.

i’ll start off by saying the title of this fic comes from the song SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK. disclaimer i don’t own that song or joji.

i want to clear things up before you read to avoid confusion and ensure you get the best experience reading. the rest of this fic will work similarly to its title. at the beginning of each chapter (probably in the notes) will be lyrics from a song that correlate to the chapter along with the artist of the song. the chapter will be titled after more lyrics from the song. before the chapter begins, i’ll link the song so that you can listen to it while you read (which i strongly recommend you do—it’ll be a song i listened to while writing the chapter so you can get the same feel i did while writing it). i also recommend you read the lyrics carefully—they hint to and set the scene for what will happen in the chapter.

secondly, i already put this in the tags but i want to warn that this fic will be SAD. i’ll probably cry writing the chapters and you’ll probably cry reading them so it’s equal writer/reader benefits ig.

that being said, have fun reading <3


	2. i. sunflowers

despite knowing

they won’t be here for long

they still choose to live

their brightest lives

_sunflowers —_ rupi kaur


	3. ii. give me reasons we should be complete

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw: family disputes, closeted homosexuality

* * *

you looked at me like i was someone else

can’t you see

i don’t wanna slow dance

in the dark

_slow dancing in the dark ; _joji

[ ♪ ](https://youtu.be/5xwmensMDn0)

* * *

there was a time when, to donghun, regrets were simple mistakes. they were things he did because he wasn’t in the right state of mind; he did what his heart told him to do rather than his brain and ended up suffering the consequences later. the regrets that followed never affected him for long. he reached a point where he couldn’t even remember them anymore, because none of his mistakes ever had a big impact on his life.

donghun only ever had one major regret he wishes he could change.

he never meant to ruin his relationship with his parents. what started out as a simple disagreement had turned into endless nights of arguments complete with harsh insults and slammed doors, and if donghun had the chance to go back and comply with his parents to fix it, he would in a heartbeat.

his original intention was simple: if he worked hard enough to become an idol, he would earn money after paying off his trainee debt, which would in turn bring his family enough money to live comfortably again. his parents, however, didn’t see it this way.  _you’ll never pay off the debt, _ his father told him.  _you’ll just put us into an even worse situation. _ donghun swore up and down he’d work his hardest, assuring his parents that he was good enough, that he knew they’d heard him singing in his room before. they wouldn’t listen to him no matter how hard he tried, which lead to intense frustration and broken kitchen glasses on donghun’s part. this went on for weeks, and after his father lost his job, it only got worse. donghun finally decided he wasn’t going to take word from his parents anymore and bought the first and farthest ticket away from home.

does he regret leaving his parents? of course. does he regret losing their relationship? more than anything. does he regret debuting as an idol?

of course not.

junhee, sehyoon, byeongkwan, and yuchan were donghun’s whole life now. they’d been through every up, down, left, and right together. they were his best friends, his boys, his group, his ride-or-dies. they were the only thing telling donghun that leaving his home wasn’t completely a mistake, and even if he never said it to them, the others knew they meant everything to donghun. through the boys, donghun found love, trust, comfort, and a family. he found a home.

byeongkwan’s reason for the idol life was much different.

there were countless nights he spent in front of a computer screen watching the newest kpop performances, eyes wide in admiration. he remembers awing over the outfits and the makeup, and sometimes, if his parents were asleep, he snuck into his mother’s makeup cabinet and tried some of the looks on himself. being the small boy he was, he caught on quickly to the dancing aspect, and all his hours of vocal lessons paid off when he was selected to compete on mixnine. here, he met his whole future.

through the idol life, byeongkwan discovered more of who he was. he found what he was comfortable with and what he was uncomfortable with, he was able to express himself more openly and was praised for it, and most of all he was able to show off his true talents doing what he loved. sure, there were some downsides, but performing with four of his closest friends outweighed all of them.

his only regret was accidentally falling in love with one of his members.

he would never tell sehyoon about his feelings, and he was okay with that. over time, byeongkwan realized that a future with love in it wouldn’t happen anytime soon, let alone with sehyoon. it became easier for byeongkwan not to notice the things that made his heart flip when they first met, so it was easier for byeongkwan to lie to himself and say he was over sehyoon, even though he wasn’t.

to byeongkwan, sehyoon will always be his first love.

sehyoon doesn’t remember how he got involved with being an idol. the whole memory of signing himself up and taking vocal lessons and dance classes is a whole blur in his mind and one he doesn’t particularly want to pull apart. his trainee days were hardest, and being away from his sister, eunsuh, made it even harder. even though they weren’t far apart in age, sehyoon always treated eunsuh like a baby sister. things only got worse when sehyoon debuted and eunsuh didn’t, which left sehyoon with almost no time to speak to her. in ways, he feels like he failed as a brother. but the four other boys had a special way of turning his failures into successes.

any time sehyoon felt down, they were there to cheer him up. he was a naturally quiet person, yet they somehow always knew when he was upset, and they always knew how to fix it too. that particular time, they told him not to worry and that they’d catch up with her on break, and sure enough sehyoon and eunsuh spent the next week together. sehyoon was more thankful for the other boys’ lives than he was for his own.

as for junhee, he’s pretty sure he got discovered on accident. someone recruiting idols heard him singing on the streets, he wrote his number down on a piece of paper, and three months later he was a trainee. at first, he wished he could go back. he hated dealing with constant muscle pain and living on low food and no sleep. but things soon started to change. CEOs of bigger companies started noticing him and he began winning competitions and even had a small fanbase waiting for his debut. this encouraged him to work harder, and his determination paid off when he debuted with a.c.e.

junhee was titled as the group’s leader, which put pressure on him. he was criticized if he didn’t introduce the group correctly or if he missed a step in their choreography, because he was the face of the group; he was the one every new fan was watching. there were many nights junhee cried himself to sleep, but each time he did he woke up covered in a blanket with a glass of water on the table next to him. this was junhee’s first hint that his members would come to mean everything to him.

junhee never really knew what a true family was until he met donghun, sehyoon, byeongkwan, and yuchan. they showed him nothing but loyalty and trust, as well as taught him moral values he hadn’t learned from his own experiences. the members made junhee a better person, and every day he strived to do the same for them.

the last member to find his calling was yuchan. he joined the idol life with bigambitions, dreaming to immediately join a group he’d be the face of and travel the world doing what he loved. he ended up getting a much slower start than expected, which discouraged him immensely.

yuchan knew from the start that his first team, UNB, would disband, so losing that part of his life was something he’d prepared for. what he hadn’t prepared for was entering a group where he was the youngest, smallest, and least mature. in his beginning with a.c.e, he felt inferior. he was always going the extra mile to please his members, yet his efforts never felt like enough. often times he volunteered to sleep on his own because he felt more comfortable by himself.

eventually, though, he started to warm up to the others. before he knew it, he felt like a part of the group. not only did he finally fit in, he also felt equal with everyone else; he felt like he found the brothers he never knew he needed. they guided him and showed him what a boy like him should grow into. yuchan would easily risk his life for them, but he’d be too embarrassed to admit it if you asked him.

his favorite thing was seeing his hyungs smile for him, because that meant he’d done his job as their little brother.

in all, the five boys were family. ask any one of them and they would say they’d risk their lives to save one another. after all, love is looking death in the eyes to save someone else, even if it means death winning the battle.

so when the boys find themselves face to face with death, they’ll be there to save each other.

right?


	4. iii. beautiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw: brief description of violence

* * *

beautiful

you’re so beautiful

beautiful

_magnolia ; _keshi

[ ♪ ](https://youtu.be/aHw4rjV9lE8)

* * *

“shh! he’s coming, he’s coming!”

“quick, someone turn the lights off!”

“OW! dammit junhee, watch where you’re g-“

“shh, he’s outside!”

silence. then a door opens.

“SURPRISE!!”

light fills the room and yuchan is met with his four beaming members holding a pink cake with his name on it. byeongkwan rushes to hug him while junhee records the moment on vlive, and sehyoon and donghun stay behind to hold the cake.

“happy birthday channie!” byeongkwan pinches yuchan’s red and smiling cheek. chan can’t help the sappy feeling he gets seeing his members so happy for him.

after a countdown from junhee, the boys sing happy birthday, followed by yuchan making a wish and blowing out his candle. the next few minutes are spent talking with their fans on vlive; the comment section floods with birthday messages for chan, which he accepts with a beaming smile.

as yuchan watches his members practically bouncing off the walls to celebrate his own birthday, he realizes how lucky he is. what would he do without them? where would he be without their constant support? he wishes he had time to tell each one of them how much they mean to him, but there isn’t enough time in the day to say so much.

“chan,” sehyoon calls. chan blinks as he’s snapped out of his own thoughts. “come get in the picture!”

yuchan looks at the boys posing for a photo around sehyoon’s phone. junhee and donghun on the left, sehyoon and byeongkwan on the right, and a space in the middle for him. they always left a space for him. they wouldn’t be a.c.e if they didn’t.

≫≪

after the celebration, the boys go to their rooms to change for an upcoming fanmeet. yuchan ponders over his outfit as he shifts through his closet.

“white or brown? no, we just wore brown. what color contacts am i wearing again? blue?”

he moves some shirts aside and pulls out his white jacket and the pants to match. 

“sehyoon? we’re wearing white, ri-“

“yuchan yuchan yuchan yuchan!!” chan hears junhee calling from down the hallway. he raises an eyebrow and pokes his head out the door to investigate but instead ends up running smack into junhee.

“jesus, junhee, what is it?!”

jun stumbles and laughs once he catches his footing, then places a hand on either one of yuchan’s shoulders. his smile stretches ear to ear.

“put the outfit down. we’re going out.”

“what?” yuchan tilts his head. “i know we’re going out, hyung. i have to put the outfit o-“

“nooo,” junhee rolls his eyes. “we’re going somewhere  _ else _ .”

chan blinks without saying a word. it makes junhee laugh.

“you know how you always say you want to go shopping downtown someday?”

“well yeah, but what about the fanmeet?”

“there is no fanmeet, silly,” junhee pinches yuchan’s cheek. “you think our manager would make you do something like that on your  birthday ? stand in the freezing cold just to talk to a few fans for an hour? c’mon channie, use your head.” he tugs on a piece of yuchan’s hair. 

yuchan smiles. he’s still a little confused, and he’s pretty sure his face has gone red again, but who is he to complain?

“alright,” he smiles. “give me fifteen minutes.”

≫≪

the boys spend the whole day downtown. in the afternoon, they visit a restaurant with many of yuchan’s favorite foods, and afterwards byeongkwan buys him bubble tea. they stop in numerous shops along the town strip, and sehyoon ends up buying yuchan a new coat he can’t keep his eyes off of. junhee wins yuchan a stuffed animal from a coffee shop’s claw machine, and as for donghun’s birthday favor, he offers to give the younger a piggyback ride when his feet get tired. 

“thanks again for the coat, sehyoonie,” yuchan says. 

“no problem,” sehyoon answers with a smile. “happy birthday channie.”

after walking a little further down the street, donghun notices a barbecue restaurant. they decide to stop there for dinner and collectively breathe a sigh of relief when the warm air of the restaurant hits them. the inside is small but homely; a long booth with pillows on the seats lines the wall, and on the other side of its table are simple wooden chairs. each table has its own light fixture on the ceiling above it. the boys are lead to their table by a small waitress in all black with a white bow holding her hair up.

“so, yuchan,” junhee asks from across the table. “what was the best part of your birthday?”

yuchan takes a sip of his water as he thinks.

“well-“

“it was the jacket, obviously,” sehyoon says jokingly. “right?”

“of course not!” byeongkwan playfully hits sehyoon’s arm. “it was the bubble tea. right yuchannie?” he leans across the table and blinks with big eyes. yuchan laughs.

“excuse me, but neither of you carried him twenty blocks,” donghun adds, which makes them all laugh.

as yuchan is invested in his conversation with junhee, byeongkwan turns his attention to a TV in the corner of the restaurant. it’s muted, so he reads the captions.

_ “... the victim’s family claims they don’t know how the accident could have occurred.” _

the screen switches to a live recording of a crying woman who byeongkwan assumes to be in her thirties. 

_ “‘ my husband let her outside to play with the dog,’  _ the woman says. her voice quivers. _ ‘ he told her to be back inside in five minutes. after that, he went to the kitchen to start dinner, and before we knew it, she...’”_

the lady chokes up and the camera switches back to the newscaster.

_ “according to the victim’s parents, five year old hyejin was outside for two minutes before her body was found mutilated on the family’s porch.” _

byeongkwan gasps.

_ “the last thing hyejin’s father remembers hearing from inside the house was her laugh, which was followed by a shocking scream.” _

byeongkwan turns his head away from the TV. he shakes his head and takes a sip from the wine glass in front of him.

“what is it?” sehyoon asks him. byeongkwan had forgotten where he was for a moment.

“ah, nothing,” kwan answers. “just a sad news story.”

after they finish dinner, the boys’ manager leads them to the car and they part for home. junhee’s asleep before the car even starts, and donghun falls asleep shortly after. sehyoon puts headphones in and closes his eyes. 

“so what‘d you wish for, channie?” byeongkwan turns around in his seat to face yuchan. “when you blew out the candle on your cake, i mean.”

“i can’t tell you that, hyung,” yuchan smiles. “then it wouldn’t come true.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those of you who listened to the song, the sound you hear in the beginning is the artist crying and i think that’s beautiful and fits well w the fic bc at first it seems like a happy song but if you dig deep enough there’s always a hinted sense of dread to come
> 
> p.s. byeongkwan dyed his hair red today and i’m whipped <3


	5. iv. one hell of a night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: death

* * *

everybody’s hitting on the walls

i don’t think they’re ready for the fall

_the walls ; _chase atlantic

[ ♪ ](https://youtu.be/FnvUMFmxP70)

* * *

“donghun, i...i don’t think i can do this.”

donghun looks up from his phone with a confused expression.

“do what, junhee?”

“this!” junhee sighs loudly and throws his hands in the air to punctuate his words. “perform! i don’t think i can do it, hun. i’ve been off lately, something about all this feels...off. i-i don’t know exactly, i just feel like something’s wrong.”

donghun sets his phone down and approaches junhee with his arms out, and as if on cue, junhee moves into them.

“what’s on your mind?” donghun asks softly. he rests his chin on the top of junhee’s head.

“i can’t explain it,” junhee mutters against donghun’s shoulder. “my nerves are all over the place today, and they never do that. it makes me feel like something’s gonna go wrong.”

donghun hums sympathetically.

“i’ve had days like that too,” he says, and he feels junhee shift to bury his head further in his chest. “hey, it’s not that big of a deal. it’s just stage fright; you’re nervous. i don’t blame you, we’ve never had a concert outside in the open like this before.”

“maybe i can tell them i’m sick,” junhee mumbles. “you guys can perform without me.”

“no.”

donghun pulls junhee out from his chest. junhee’s hair is disheveled and his undereyes show signs of sleep deprivation. donghun sighs.

“you’ll do just fine,” hun whispers. he leans forward and plants a small kiss on junhee’s forehead. junhee leans into it for comfort.

“thank you,” junhee answers before taking a deep breath.

“now,” donghun says. “let’s go give them a show, yeah?”

≫≪

the crowd cheers loud when the boys walk on stage. some fans hold up banners, others phones, and a few in the front row have set up cameras for a fansite.

“hi choice!” junhee begins. he counts down from three and they perform their greeting, earning a small round of applause.

“we’re excited to finally see you again!” byeongkwan beams. “it’s been awhile, hasn’t it?” he asks. the fans agree.

junhee looks out at their audience. he estimates two hundred, maybe three hundred people that came to watch them, which is surprising considering the venue is outside and they‘re in the middle of winter. nerves pool in the pit of his stomach, but he swallows them down like donghun told him to do. the boys perform their way through the concert setlist, starting with their newest title song and ending with a sentimental song written for their fans. the concert is a success overall.

“ah, i don’t think i want to leave, sehyoonie,” byeongkwan whines as he leans on sehyoon’s shoulder.

“what do you think, donghun?” yuchan asks. “should we do one more song?”

the fans cheer in agreement. 

“alright, m-“

“OH MY GOD!!”

silence. a microphone drops. eyes widen and shoot to the back of the crowd. someone lets out a blood curdling scream and drops to the ground. the rest of the crowd panics.

“what?” yuchan yells. his microphone is turned off. “what happened?!”

“i-i don’t-“ junhee starts, but his sentence trails off as he stands on his toes in an attempt to see what’s happening.

“oh my god, she’s dead!” someone shouts.

the crowd erupts into a panic. cries can be heard over the cacophony of screams.

byeongkwan‘s jaw drops.  _ dead? someone just died? _

“someone call the police!” another girl shouts.

sehyoon frantically looks around for a manager while junhee and donghun try to get a better view and yuchan asks a fan holding a camera what happened. byeongkwan feels tears pooling in his eyes. 

“s-sehyoon,” byeongkwan mutters. he can’t take his wide eyes off the disheveled crowd. “what-“

“i don’t know,” sehyoon answers with a shaky voice. byeongkwan can tell he’s terrified.

“junhee!” a familiar voice calls. the boys turn their heads to see their manager frantically motioning them off the stage, and they’re immediately met with a sense of comfort knowing they aren’t on their own. junhee quickly rushes over to the manager, followed by donghun and sehyoon.

byeongkwan can’t bring himself to move. he stares into the crowd, body stiff. _ “oh my god, she’s dead!” _ the words echo in his head like a broken record. he’d just witnessed the death of one of his own fans.

“byeongkwan!” donghun calls, snapping the younger out of his trance. he looks over to donghun and swallows hard, but he still can’t move. he hears murmurs of  _“what killed her?”_ and  _“you mean it came out of the bushes?”_,  but he’s too overwhelmed to process any of it.

“hey,” a hand grabs byeongkwan’s arm. he turns and sees it belongs to yuchan. “c’mon, we have to go,” yuchan urges, and finally byeongkwan moves. he lets the other drag him offstage by the arm, but he never takes his eyes off the spot in the back of the crowd where the girl went down.

“y-yuchan?” byeongkwan says quietly when they’re finally offstage. yuchan spins around and byeongkwan can see how worried he is by the look on his face.

“what?” yuchan asks with a sense of urgency.

“what...what killed her?”

yuchan’s eyebrow twitches and byeongkwan sees pure fear in his eyes.

“i don’t know.”

≫≪

“what the hell was that?!” sehyoon asks their manager, who seems to be even more panicked than they are.

“i wish i knew sehyoon, but i don’t-“

“i fucking told you something would happen!!” junhee suddenly shouts, turning all heads in the room. “i told you,” he turns to donghun. his eyes are glossy and a tear stains his cheek.

“junhee-“

“she’s fucking dead!” junhee throws his arms up in the air and sobs. he covers his face and slides down the wall behind him onto the floor, sobbing into his hands.

“listen, we know she died. we can’t change that,” sehyoon attempts to calm the situation. “but what we can do is figure out what killed her and do everything we can to prevent it at the next concert.”

“oh, and how do we do that, sehyoon?” yuchan spits. “please, tell me, how do you plan to do that?”

“hey,” byeongkwan butts in. “you don’t need to yell at him like that. fighting won’t get us anywhere.”

“he’s right,” donghun says. “we just need to take this one step at a-“

“everyone stop,” their manager suddenly interrupts. he’s been searching for something on his phone the whole time, the boys realize.

“go to your dorms.” he commands.

“what?” donghun asks. junhee pulls his head out of his hands.

“you heard me,” the manager says. “ i mean it. change out of your clothes; i’ll have them cleaned by tomorrow.”

“but-“

“now!”

the manager’s stern voice makes them jump. they quickly gather their things and file out of the room, yuchan being the last one to leave. on his way out the door, he looks behind himself to the manager, who has a look of fear on his face worse than yuchan’s ever seen.

≫≪

the sound of a loud bang wakes yuchan up around midnight. he tries to shut his eyes and go back to sleep, but after hearing another bang even louder than the first, his curiosity gets the best of him, and he pulls himself out of bed.

as he steps out into the hallway, he hears yelling coming from the same source as the banging. it sounds like an argument, he thinks, like harsh words are being thrown back and forth and no one seems to be winning. as he nears the production room, which is only a few rooms down from his, he can make out what’s being said.

“we have to tell them! we can’t just... _ exclude _ them from the outside world!”

yuchan recognizes the voice as director kang’s.

“i don’t think you understand just how serious this is,” another voice says.  _ the manager__,_ yuchan thinks.

“of course i understand, this is  _ deadly,”_ the manager says. “authorities are calling it an epidemic. but tell me, would you rather tell them we’re in the middle of the fucking apocalypse and worry them to death, or would you rather keep it from them until the CDC gets this under control?”

yuchan’s breath stops.  _ did he just say..? _

“and who knows how long before they get this under control? have you seen the pictures on the news? more than twenty five hundred have died so far. those things are  monsters,”  kang retorts.

“they’re not monsters, they’re humans.”

“humans turned into monsters! and to make things worse, they can turn  other humans too!”

yuchan feels sick to his stomach, so he takes a deep breath and sits down against the door. did he hear that right?  _ apocalypse? _

“you can say what you want kang, but i’m in charge. we’re not telling them,” the manager states matter of factly. the room is silent for a moment, then a door slams, then silence again. yuchan feels the room begin to spin as he’s hit with everything at once. he doesn’t want to believe it. he’d only heard about this in fantasies—comic books he’d read as a kid or movies that kept him up all hours of the nigh t— and if what kang and the manager said was true, he was now living out his worst nightmare.

“they have to be mistaken..” he whispers to himself, but he doesn’t believe it. his throat closes up before tears begin to well in his eyes, and he puts a hand over his mouth and seals his lips tight.

“what the hell is going on?” he chokes out the words painfully, as if he doesn’t want the answer to his question.

yuchan spends the rest of the night slumped against the production room door. when junhee finds him the next morning, yuchan brushes it off and tells him it was just a minor breakdown. even if it’s all true, he can’t bring himself to tell the others they’re right in the middle of the end of the world.


End file.
